What Does The T.S. Stand For?

Waaay back in 1982, this Mr. Canacorn was just a lil' guy all of 10 years old...I was obsessed with many things: KISS, Star Wars, comic books, and the commercial for new Robin Williams movie, The World According To Garp.

I knew every line of dialog featured in those 30 seconds by heart and I made sure to recite them out loud every time the commercial aired...which was a lot. I know it might seem strange for a 10 year old to be into an adaptation of a John Irving novel, but it wasn't Mr. Irving's exploration of "fatherhood, lust, adultery, and loss" that intrigued me...oh no...it was all about Robin Williams for this kid.

Okay, look, I can't stand Robin's stand up now that I'm in my 30s but back then he was part of the Holy Trinity of comedians I worshiped. Along with John Belushi and Fozzie Bear, Robin was one of the funniest men in the whole world and there was no way I was going to miss this movie!

Thanks to my constant reciting of the Garp commercial I slowly drove my father and his (jerky) second wife to the brink of insanity. And when the commercial wasn't airing and reruns of F Troop weren't keeping my attention, I would act out the short quick scenes that permeated my every waking thought, further driving my dad and step-monster into my diabolical plan of taking me to a movie I wanted to see more than CAVEMAN or GOING APE!

Like most only children visiting their divorced dad for the Summer I got my way. But dad played it cool and said we were going to see ROCKY III again, even though we just watched that cinematic masterpiece the week before...HMMMMMM. Even though I wasn't eleven yet I was smart enough to see through his ruse, but I played along and even faked confusion once the trailer for ROCKY III started before the movie. Needless to say, TWATG was one of the greatest movies I had ever seen in my 10 years on the planet.

So why am I bringing this up on a blog dedicated to becoming a first time parent? Well, I guess because this film (and novel) has been on my mind quite a bit recently. If you've seen or read GARP and you're a man, you can probably guess why. The fears, triumphs, loss, wonder, and joy of being a son, husband, and parent are deftly handled in Garp's story and I can't help but relate. That, and it's a fond childhood memory involving my own father...and everyday I wonder more and more what kind of memories I'll get to create for Baby Chuy throughout his lifetime.

Anyway, I plan on revisiting THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP in the coming months with The Wife and I'll be sure to share my thoughts on it when we do.

Oh, one more thing: My Uncle John is in the movie as Man in Tree...wanna see?